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Chocobo
.]] A |'chocobo''' is a fictional, large, and normally flightless galliforme/ratite bird capable of being ridden, that highly resembles the now-extinct South American Terror Birds, Phorusrhacidae. Chocobos are a staple of the ''Final Fantasy'' series. While most chocobos are yellow, certain rare breeds are of different colors and have special abilities, such as the ability to fly or cast magic. A singular variant is the Fat Chocobo (or Chubby Chocobo), which resembles a morbidly obese yellow or white chocobo and can humorously stock the party's items in its stomach or appear randomly when summoning a chocobo in battle. Chocobos are also occasionally used as lightly armored war mounts. In such cases they can assist their riders with their beak and claws. Overall, the species is a very versatile and useful bird, which comes in handy since horses are either untamed or non-existent in the Final Fantasy games. The onomatopoeia for a chocobo's call is and is sometimes replaced with "wark" in English translations. Chocobos first appeared in Final Fantasy II and have been featured in almost all subsequent Final Fantasy games since, as well as making cameo appearances in numerous non-''Final Fantasy'' games. A spin-off series featuring chocobos has also been created. Creation and influence The chocobo was created by Koichi Ishii, a video game director who worked on various Final Fantasy titles. The influence for chocobos was from Kyorochan, a character in television advertisements for Morinaga & Company's chocolate candy, which is also a bird with the call of "kweh". Morinaga has also released a tie-in product: . The Chocobo design is said to be based on Hayao Miyazaki's Horseclaws, which appear in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.Rogers, Tim (March 27, 2006). "In Defense of Final Fantasy XII". Next Generation. "Okay, so the Chocobos -- big, yellow riding birds -- were actually stolen from Hayao Miyazaki's movie 'Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind', and Hironobu Sakaguchi freely admitted that way back when." Appearances In the Final Fantasy series Most chocobos dwell in forests (although those from Final Fantasy VII live in grasslands and snowfields). While timid in the wild and vicious if threatened, they tame rather easily and act as vehicles, as well as quick and effective cavalry. In this role they tend to be capable of crossing shallow water and are noted for their high speeds. Most often they can be caught in the wild and ridden without fear of random encounters, escaping after the player dismounts. A common food for chocobos, usually used to help tame the bird, are Gysahl Greens, which are named after a town in Final Fantasy III. The food is occasionally incorrectly translated as "Gishal". Final Fantasy II was the first installment to have chocobos play a role in the plot. Boko (sometimes translated as Boco) went on to become a recurring chocobo name in later installments. In Final Fantasy XIII, the character Sazh Katzroy has a baby chocobo, named "Hina", for a pet. Within Final Fantasy XI, the raising and breeding of chocobos was a long-requested activity, and was enabled in the Summer 2006 update. Chocobo racing began in March 2007. Players were allowed to race player-raised chocobos against non-player characters. Winning racers earn "Chocobucks", which can be used to buy items that assist chocobo breeding. Chocobos have appeared in all numbered installments except the first, in addition to the Final Fantasy Tactics series. Chocobos appear as a summon in Final Fantasy II,Final Fantasy III, Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VII, and Final Fantasy VIII. Fat Chocobo appears in Final Fantasy II,Final Fantasy III, Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, and Final Fantasy IX. The chocobo Boko appears in Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VIII, and Final Fantasy Tactics. Black Chocobos, which sometimes possess the ability to fly, are found in Final Fantasy II.Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VII, and Final Fantasy Tactics. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest features several chocobo-shaped weather vanes in the town of Windia. In Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles one can obtain the Chocobo Shield and the Chocobo Pocket items. In the animated sequel to Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals, one of the main characters can summon pink, featherless chocobos. In addition. Final Fantasy Adventure featured a chocobo egg which hatched to aid the player. Chocobos are common in the anime series Final Fantasy: Unlimited, and one named Chobi joins the cast in their adventure. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within and Final Fantasy VII Advent Children both have chocobo-related easter eggs. Also, Chocobos made an appearance in the trailer for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers and will be utilized in the game. Chocobos are also found in Final Fantasy X2 briefly but you can fight them throughtout the game winning nothing and gaining nothing. Chocobos also do a kind of dance if you make them wait too long. As mentioned previously, most chocobos are yellow. Some of the other more rare color varieties include red, black, green, and blue. In Final Fantasy XI, chocobos can also vary greatly in size. Outside the Final Fantasy series Chocobos appear frequently in other Squaresoft and Square Enix games, notably in the Mana series. A chocobo serves as a mount in Seiken Densetsu (Final Fantasy Adventure), and is later changed into a 'Chocobot'. It was removed from the 2003 remake Sword of Mana in favor of the 'Cannon Ball Travel' which originated in Secret of Mana; however, a chocobo can be seen in Sword of Mana by waiting for a certain period of time after the completion of the game. Wild black chocobos appear as monsters in Legend of Mana, while tame yellow chocobos can be hatched by the player from eggs to assist in battle. Chocobos also appear in Seiken Densetsu: Friends of Mana. In Secret of Evermore, a Chocobo Egg is a rare item. In Kingdom Hearts, there is a Keyblade/keychain and a Gummi Ship design that are both named and modeled after a chocobo; there is also a drawing of a chocobo in the cave on the Destiny Islands. In Parasite Eve, a banner depicting a chocobo hangs over the entrance to the American Museum of Natural History, while a chocobo skeleton can be found nearby. In Tobal 2, a chocobo is obtainable as a combatant. Web-based minigames starring Chocobos are also featured on Square Enix's member site.Game Zone│Square Enix Members Music The chocobo signature theme is an upbeat ditty that is present in one form or another in all Final Fantasy games since their introduction in Final Fantasy II, frequently as variants or remixes: for instance, the Final Fantasy VII chocobo races have a frantic version, while the futuristic Final Fantasy VIII has a more modern one. These songs are titled with the suffix "de Chocobo" and prefixed by the name of the style in which they are played. For example, "Techno de Chocobo" from Final Fantasy VI's PlayStation release features a dance remix, while "Cinco de Chocobo" from Final Fantasy VII features a jazz remix (in 5/4 time, cinco being Spanish for the number five). A newer version of the theme, titled "Swing de Chocobo", was created by Nobuo Uematsu for the concerts VOICES and Play!. It has been performed by a number of different orchestras between 2005 and today, including a recent performance by the San Francisco Symphony as part of the Distant Worlds concert tour on July 18th. Reception and legacy Boko the Chocobo from Final Fantasy V was voted by Joystiq as the twentieth most desired character to be placed in the Final Fantasy fighting game Dissidia: Final Fantasy. Music composed for chocobo appearances in the Final Fantasy games was used in the Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy concert tour. Chocobo merchandise has been released, including a rubber duck, a plush baby Chocobo,"PlayStation: The Official Magazine Holiday Gift Guide '08," PlayStation: The Official Magazine 13 (Holiday 2008): 37. and coffee mugs. Square Enix designed a chocobo character costume for the release of Chocobo Tales. The chocobo has inspired similar creatures or homages in other games and related media. In Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete, a blue chocobo-like creature drives the wagons of the traveling circus Carivan. The red dragon Ruby mentions it was a chocobo, but quickly changes it into "Chuckoboo". Rules for using yellow and black chocobos in Dungeons & Dragons were published in the September 2004 issue of Dragon magazine. The open-source computer games Egoboo and The Battle for Wesnoth both feature a creature called a "Chocobone" that looks like a skeletal Chocobo. The November 2007 Monthly Collectable for Gaia Online features a pose that allows users' avatars to "ride" a very chocobo-like bird. The browser-based game Kingdom of Loathing features the Cocoabo familiar, a chocobo-shaped which is described as made of cocoa, and makes reference to the chocobo's cry. In World of Warcraft, two racial mounts, the Blood Elf Hawkstrider and the Gnome Mechanostrider, both bear close resemblance to chocobos. The Korean MMORPG Ragnarok Online features a mount for the Knight and Crusader classes that strongly resembles a chocobo called a Peco-Peco. Chocobos have been parodied in several webcomics including VG Cats, RPG World as Dragobos, 8-bit Theatre, and Weebl and Bob. References External links * [http://www.chocobo.com/ Official Chocobo game series website for Japan] Category:Final Fantasy races Category:Video game creatures Category:Video game mascots Category:Fictional flightless birds Category:Fictional life forms Category:1988 introductions